


heroes in the darkest times

by hearden



Series: ranger lovefest [14]
Category: Power Rangers (2017)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Alternate Universe - Reincarnation, F/F, trimberlyelves
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-24
Updated: 2018-12-24
Packaged: 2019-09-21 01:32:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,005
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17033844
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hearden/pseuds/hearden
Summary: This is a battle Gia and Emma have fought before against the Armada, in another universe, with different weapons, but always by each other's sides.(aka giemma in fantasy au vs. giemma in super megaforce)





	heroes in the darkest times

**Author's Note:**

  * For [UnicornAffair](https://archiveofourown.org/users/UnicornAffair/gifts).



> merry christmas, mere!!! i love you so much, and you're the best partner in crime i never expected. i couldn't ask for a better writing partner and friend. <3
> 
> god, i really hope you like fantasy because, honestly, i am not fond of fantasy yet my brain was like “scrap the idea you have for mere’s secret santa and then IMMEDIATELY write this” so i did
> 
> written as a double-hitter: for the trimberly dwarves' secret santa and the ranger lovefest redux (giemma, obviously)
> 
>  **warnings:** violence but it's a fantasy au so.

Her ears are ringing with the force of the blast that had thrown her back, demorphed and defeated. Gia stumbles to her feet, sore and heavy, thinks she might have a concussion. The world is on fire around her. She tastes dirt and ash in her mouth and spits on the ground, but it doesn't go away. She wipes her mouth with the inside of her shirt. That only makes it worse.

She could be imagining it because concussions make people see things, but her eyes hazily spot a blur of blue and pink in the distance. Gia blinks, and her vision refocuses.

"Emma!" she yells, unable to hear how loud her own voice is in her ears, "Emma!"

It must be loud enough because Emma whirls around, her jean jacket and pink shorts smeared with soot.

"Emma," she breathes out in relief as Emma runs to her, catches her in a hug when she stumbles.

Gia hears her name whispered back and squeezes Emma tighter.

They're alive. She has Emma. The war isn't over yet, but the last battle has just begun.

 

-

 

Gia digs her heels harder into Arion's sides but eases up soon after, knowing that there's nothing she can do to go faster. Specks in the distance, the village of Seeing Stone is aflame, smoke rising to the heavens. She'd made a mistake, thought she had more time to get to the informant than she actually did, and now she was paying for it.

The aliens of the Armada, called Xborgs, a word unfamiliar to her tongue, are like the demons her father had taught her about as a child. They are all foreigners, regardless, but whereas the ones her father's generation fought came through magic from sea and land, these came from the heavens and beyond with their bodies of metal. They came with equipment that nobody had ever seen before that set off explosions of light and heat, much like a sorcerer's hand, but instead from club-like weapons that they carried with them.

However, flesh can be torn, and metal can be broken.

From far away, the Xborgs see her coming and those that do begin advancing, but she is on horse and they are on foot. She's upon them within minutes, drawing her sword from its scabbard and raining hell on them. Her blade severs one Xborg's head from its body and lodges itself in the shoulder of another, so Gia uses all of her strength to hurl the Xborg at another of its comrades. The two go tumbling into each other, and Arion tramples over them underneath his hooves.

There aren't many at first, but Seeing Stone is a small village and the Xborgs must talk fast, not that Gia ever heard them say anything. Another horde of Xborgs rush out from the other end of the village, running over bodies of dead villagers and ruins of carts and once-been homes. Three Xborgs grab at her legs and forcibly drag her off of Arion's saddle. She doesn't have any time to scream before the Xborgs overtake Arion, a harsh neigh letting Gia know that she is alone. Within seconds, she's surrounded but not defeated. Not yet.

Gia yanks off her helmet, blonde hair flowing wildly free, and uses it to clobber an Xborg then tosses it aside. She swings her sword in a wide arc, taking down a few Xborgs with the force, and creates enough space for herself where the other Xborgs are hesitant to step into her circle of reach. This repeats once, twice, but she can't fool them a third time. However far she can swing her sword, she won't be able to defend herself from all angles at all times. That's not a kind of magic that is in her.

The Xborgs close in and come at her from all directions. Gia braces herself for the fight of her life because it may as well be, and her mission hasn't even started. She ducks under a club flying toward her head and launches into an uppercut, her gloved fist smashing into the Xborg's chin and busting its head open. The Xborg falls, bleeding sparks and colored wicks. She curses that the Xborgs had yanked her off of Arion's saddle before she could grab her clawed gauntlet, curses that she doesn't always have it on because she doesn't want to hurt Arion with it.

Gia brings her elbow crashing into another Xborg's head, splitting it open from the brutal blow, and whirls around just in time to use the flat of her blade to block a club that would have split her own head open. The Xborg forces its weight behind the standoff. Gia stumbles and falls. Sees her life flash before her eyes but keeps them open. She isn't going to flinch away from death.

Death doesn't come.

An arrow pierces the Xborg's head, and it collapses. The horde surrounding her act as one, turning their heads to see what -- or who -- had ambushed them. Gia can't see from the ground, but she uses the distraction an opportunity and scrambles to her feet. Leaping onto the back of an Xborg, she finds grip underneath its chin and rips its head clean off. The Xborgs came in masses, not in toughness. Their skin is weak.

More arrows fly and hit their targets. Gia doesn't have time to look while she slices an Xborg in half then drives her heel through another's chest and shakes the remnants off of her boot. She sees a flash of brown hair, shining in the sunlight, but doesn't focus on it more than she needs to.

Her chest is beginning to ache from the strain. There's an easy way out of this, but Gia doesn't know if she can afford the energy. Three arrows land in rapid succession, taking down three Xborgs near her, and then, a voice yells, "I'm out! If you're going to do something, do it!"

Gia doesn't pause to ask how the villager knew what she'd been thinking about. She doesn't hear any screams from the village, either -- they're all dead, most likely. If anything, this might be the last villager left, hopefully the one she's here for.

It might work out horribly for her later, but she swings her sword and whirls, creating space for her to work with. It does, briefly, so she has to do this fast before the Xborgs close in on her and make it impossible for her to use her magic.

Gia expertly twirls her sword in her hand and slams it down into the earth, digging the blade into the soil. The moment the sword cuts into the earth, the ground underneath her feet trembles. A warning sign.

The Xborgs pause, and Gia forces her sword deeper into the soil.

Cracks appear, rapidly spreading from her feet. The earth violently shakes, knocking the Xborgs to their feet. In the middle of it all, Gia stands firm, gripping the hilt of her sword tightly.

The villager who had helped her has fallen, too. Gia sees the girl scramble to her feet, clutching at her bow, and clears out of danger's distance. When Gia's sure that it's clear, she holds her sword with both hands and pushes the rest of the blade deep into the dirt until only the hilt remains above ground. The energy rushes out of her as fast as the ground opens up to swallow the rest of the Xborgs, the shaking of the earth making her dizzy.

In seconds, nothing is left but Gia in a small circle of earth and the gaping abyss below. She can't even hear the roar of the earth because the blood rushing in her ears is louder. Struggling a bit, she dislodges her sword from the ground and brushes soil off of the blade. Just as quickly, the earth closes back up, leaving no evidence of her magic or the Xborgs.

Huffing, Gia catches her breath and stands, using her sword as support. The villager approaches, warily. Her brown hair is long and wavy and brown eyes soft, not war-hardened. Her tunic and pants have seen better days, covered in grit and grime, but Gia is most interested in the bloody handprint on the sleeve of the villager's tunic. There's a sad tale behind that one.

"Is it safe?" the villager asks, tucking a strand of hair behind her ears.

"I sure hope so," Gia sighs, "I'm looking for someone."

"Well, you might be out of luck," she replies, "I'm the only one left."

"Are you her -- the informant I came to find? I was told she could end the war."

The girl raises her eyebrows. "Who told you that?"

"King Gosei, of course."

The girl scoffs a little, "I don't know if I could end the war… King Gosei presumes a lot."

"So, you _are_ her."

She shrugs and gingerly walks toward Gia, casting nervous glances at the ground underneath her shoes as if she's afraid of the ground opening up under her again.

"Don't worry," Gia mutters, not very reassuringly, "You'll know when I'm about to do that again. And I can't right now, even if I wanted to."

"Emma," the girl says when she's right in front of Gia, eye to eye with her, "That's my name." She bends down and picks up Gia's discarded helmet, handing it back to her after briefly touching the yellow plume.

Gia takes the helmet and holds it at her side. She recites, instinctively, "Lady Gia of the Moran clan, High Knight of the Order of Tensou, Commander of King Gosei's Royal Army of Terram."

"That's a mouthful," Emma comments, raising her eyebrows and chuckling.

"Gia," she amends, dryly, wanting to at least add Lady but having a feeling that that would just add to Emma's amusement.

Emma glances at Arion, and Gia follows her eyes, only to look away, her stomach turning. "Your friend…"

"The trip back will just be… unfortunately longer," Gia says, trying her hardest not to think about Arion laying there, dead, and how she couldn't defend him, "Unless there's still any horses left in the stables?"

"No, they were the first to go," Emma answers, sadly shaking her head, "The Xborgs didn't want us to escape." She goes over to Arion's corpse and kneels, gently petting his side and whispering things that Gia can't hear, things that sound sweet and soothing as if the horse were still alive.

The wind picks up, a breeze blowing Gia's hair into her face. She brushes it away and furrows her brow when the wind makes the grass around Emma and Arion sway harder than around her own feet. Emma presses her palm firmly against Arion's side.

"What are you--" She doesn't get a chance to finish her question because Arion loudly neighs and raises his head.

Gia drops her helmet and sword in shock and rushes over, falling to her knees next to her horse in a way that sends a jolt through her legs, but she isn't going to worry about it right now. "Arion? Wha--" Blinking, she looks at Emma. "Did you-- did you bring him back to life?"

"No, no, no, of course not," Emma says, hastily, "I'm not a sorcerer like that. He wasn't dead, just… hanging on. I healed him."

A sigh of relief leaves Gia's lips as she runs her hands along Arion's mane, thankful that they have a way to get back to King Gosei's castle with haste. "Thank you, Emma," she murmurs, meeting the other girl's eyes.

She adds, "I don't mean to rush, but we should go. If the Armada knows you survived--"

"No, I understand." Emma nods. "We can scavenge what we can from the village and then leave."

 

-

 

That night, the last night before the last battle against the Armada, Gia can't sleep. Orion had returned, their team made whole again, but not much talking had been done after that. There's nothing left to say when their world is falling apart around them, not enough time to say all the things they all want to say to each other. There's no noise of invasion as everyone else presumably sleeps, just the crackling of the fire they had set up to keep warm, and the ambient sounds of the night. They have no sleeping bags, but Troy had pulled a pocket knife out of nowhere -- perks of being a military brat, she would guess -- and cut up the seats of the Armada ship Orion had crash landed in to make padding for them to put on the ground. It's not much, but it's something.

That's all they have left. Something and each other.

Emma is asleep about a foot away, and Gia knows she's asleep because she keeps tossing and turning but her eyes are closed. Gia had given her her leather jacket, not that it’s really a good substitute for a blanket. When Emma whimpers, distressed, Gia tenses, her whole body lighting up like the tip of a candle wick to a flame. By the light of the fire, she sees Emma’s pinched brow, the unease on her features. A bad dream or nightmare, most likely. There’s no shortage of those now. Gia’s sure if she could get her eyes to close, she’d experience the same thing.

Grumbling to herself when her joints ache as she sits up, Gia crawls over to the nearest pile of rubble that’s not too far from their campsite, leaning against it so she can watch over the team.

They aren’t the only ones here -- there are people, all hoping for the Power Rangers to save them.

She sighs and keeps her hand on the morpher in her pocket, just in case, glancing at Emma who has pulled her knees up to her chest, huddling under Gia’s jacket. Hopefully, the Power Rangers can survive this.

 

-

 

Seeing Stone is -- was, technically -- a small village deep in the Marram region of Gosei's kingdom. Not a coastal port town, not big enough to be one, thankfully. The Armada would always go for the larger cities first. To get back to the Grand Castle, they have to cross through Terram and up the Mecha Mountains in Caelerram, which Gia knows will be the most tiring part of the journey.

With Arion, they make it not far from the borders of Marram by nightfall and camp out in the cover of the woods for the night. Gia gathers firewood while Emma disappears with her bow nocked then returns with a gutted rabbit. They don't keep the fire lasting for long, though, because it could mean discovery, so Gia stamps it out quickly after they finish cooking, and they eat their dinner in almost darkness.

Gia finishes her meal and drains the last of her waterskin. She can refill it in the morning when they reach the River Cestro. Arion is resting off to the side of their campfire; Gia hears him softly neighing every now and then.

She looks at Emma, even though she's not sure if the other girl can see her in the dark. "May I ask what this information is that you have that King Gosei thinks could win the war against the Armada?"

Emma hums and stares off into the distance, not looking at her. Gia misconstrues it as distrust. "I understand if you can't tell me," she adds, quickly, "I don't have the authority."

Emma chuckles, something that sounds magical in the dark night. "You have the authority, Gia."

The way her name rolls off of Emma's tongue surprises Gia. It sounds so easily said, as if they are already best friends.

"I don't wish to overstep," Gia murmurs but leaves the question open in the air.

Emma sighs and takes a moment to herself then she scoots closer to Gia. It's odd, the closeness, but Gia doesn't let herself be bothered by it. She still has some days to go with Emma until they reach the safety. "Seeing Stone isn't real," Emma starts, and already she's lost Gia. But, Gia respectfully keeps her questions for the end, even as her brow furrows in confusion.

"I'm royalty, like you," Emma explains, and Gia fights the urge to immediately get up and kneel upon hearing that. "When I was born, the Royal Council received a prophecy about me -- that I would help end a great war that would one day plague the kingdom for years. My parents sent me away with a small army -- enough to fill a village, if you will. I would come back when I was needed."

"You grew up without your parents-- why did they send you away?" Gia already feels a sense of resentment inside of her, irritation that Emma had to have an entire life outside of the people she should've called her family.

Pursing her lips, Emma pauses and hugs her arms around her waist, pulling her knees up to her chest. A soft breeze blows. Emma's hair flutters in front of her face. Before Emma can even move to brush it out of the way, Gia reaches over and tucks the strands behind Emma's ear.

"I knew you were going to do that," Emma murmurs. Gia doesn't have to be able to see clearly in the dark to know that Emma is blushing. She can feel the same heat on her own cheeks.

"I'm sorry, my lady--" Gia starts hastily apologizing, leaning back, but Emma cuts her off.

"It's okay, Gia," Emma says, softly, then shrugs, "The reason I was sent away… I was born a seer, and King Gosei thought it would be too dangerous to have my powers in the kingdom -- both for myself and for our people. Just think of what the Armada could do if they knew of a way to force my powers."

The ease with which Emma tells her all of this has her heart feeling a certain way. Uneasy, uncomfortable. She's never had someone trust her with something so deep before. Even her friendship with the other commanders -- Jake, Troy, Noah, and Orion -- took years to cultivate to the same level that Emma has just suddenly taken them to.

"Seers--" Gia fumbles, "I thought they didn't exist anymore. Wasn't the last one Wesley of Silver Hills? That was over ten years ago."

"Hm, not Wesley, I think, but one of the other lords who served with him." Emma shakes her head. "Seers don't stop existing. We're born, randomly, when we need to be, I suppose."

Gia has a realization. "You-- you knew your village would fall," she says, somberly.

Emma puts her hand over Gia's, and Gia almost flinches at the skin-to-skin contact. She'd taken her gloves off to eat and rest for the night, but she hadn't been expecting this. "You don't have to sound so guilty about it, Gia. There's nothing you could have done differently."

She wants to protest but knows Emma probably wouldn't let her. "Do you… do you see everything?" she asks, hesitantly, not quite knowing why her voice is having a hard time coming out.

"Not everything and not clearly," Emma answers, "I get pieces. Small visions in my dreams. But, I knew I would be in good hands on the journey home."

At that, Gia clears her throat and looks away, her cheeks positively burning.

"I know we'll be okay," Emma says, softly but confidently.

 

-

 

When morning comes, Gia wakes first, her back aching from leaning against the rubble. As the others wake, grumbling to themselves, she goes over to Emma, pulling her into an abrupt hug. Emma returns her hug without any surprise and sighs into Gia's shirt. As they pull apart, Emma hands Gia her leather jacket back.

There's no words said between the two of them. Emma doesn't ask what the hug is for because they know exactly what it's for.

Gia almost says something else when Emma holds her hand and just gently swings their linked hands back and forth. It might be the last time she can say something, but she doesn't want to think like that. Emma wouldn't want her to think like that.

A string of screams interrupt her, though, and she quickly finds Troy's eyes.

"Duty calls," he says, and Gia reaches for her morpher.

 

-

 

They reach the River Cestro shortly after starting in the morning. Gia refills their waterskins and lets Arion drink from the river and feeds him carrots from her sack. Breakfast for her and Emma is apples that Emma had salvaged from Seeing Stone. Emma excuses herself away to wash, and Gia remembers the bloody handprint on Emma's sleeve. The other girl doesn't leave too far away, though, because as Gia idly glances around, she freezes at Emma taking her tunic off, quickly looking away before she can see anything else beyond Emma's back.

Arion softly neighs, and Gia hisses at him. "Quiet."

After they set off again, with Gia sitting behind Emma on Arion's saddle as before, Gia resists the urge to rest her head against Emma's back, but the more she thinks about not doing it, the more uncomfortable she gets about… not doing it. She just can't win.

"If you want to lean against me, you can," Emma murmurs.

Gia freezes for the second time in mere hours. "Can-- you can't read my thoughts, can you?"

"Seer," is all Emma answers with, laughing.

"You don't happen to know if we'll defeat the Armada once and for all, do you?"

"Small visions," she repeats, "But I know we'll be okay."

It's because she inexplicably trusts Emma that she believes that and leans forward, gently resting her head on Emma's shoulder.

 

-

 

It's tiring, but they travel until they reach safety in the Mecha Mountains, following the trails to the Grand Castle. Gia had almost wanted to stop in Terram to check on her High Castle and on Jake, but that would have taken time away from her and Emma's journey. And, if things were going according to plan, Jake and the others would have already left their castles to meet with King Gosei, all headed in the same direction. The Armada is preparing for their invasion -- Gia doesn't have to be a seer to feel it -- so they have to prepare to defend their land.

The trek up the mountains is tough and tiring, and with days having passed at this point, she feels closer to Emma, having shared what it'd been like growing up in royalty, the battles she had fought against the Armada in her earlier years, things like that, and Emma had told her of her training, of the army she had been sent with and how those people became her family and taught her about the life she would have to one day come back to.

Talking with Emma makes the trek easier.

She realizes where Emma belongs when they're partway up the trail. It comes because the air gets thinner the higher up they get, the closer they get to the Grand Castle, but Emma pauses, stalls Arion, and asks Gia to get off for a moment. Then, she runs her hands through Gia's hair and leans their foreheads together and for a quick second, Gia almost panics, thinking that Emma is about to kiss her, but all Emma does is tell her, "Breathe with me."

So, she does. For every deep breath in Emma takes, Gia breathes out, and the same in return.

Her head clears almost immediately, like walking out of her stuffy High Castle after a long meeting and inhaling the fresh air of the outdoors. Gia sighs, gazing into Emma's eyes, "You're meant to lead with Troy. Here, in Caelerram. Your magic--"

Emma smiles. "The villagers of Seeing Stone taught me everything I needed to know. Everything except how to ride a dragon, of course, but I would like to think I'm a fast learner."

Gia's heart skips a beat, a tightness overwhelming her chest. She wants to-- before she can't--

But Emma holds up a finger to Gia's lips and lightly shakes her head. "Not yet."

"I--" She almost protests, but she understands. Not yet is the trust that there will be a later time for them to finish this conversation.

 

-

 

While she and Emma had been gone, Troy, Noah, Jake, and Orion had received aid in numbers from the other lands -- from The Grove of Angels to Silver Hills to Corinth. They all sent their best commanders, knights who Gia recognizes from her father's days, knights who had defeated the demons who invaded their lands.

Gia watches Emma get knighted by King Gosei and quickly outfitted with armor that's not bright and shining and new, but it's all very last minute. There will be time for that later when they survive because they will survive.

Emma takes off her helmet, accented with a pink plume, and bows to King Gosei and the Royal Council. Nods at the boys -- Troy, who she will rule Caelerram with, Noah, who rules Marram, Jake, and Orion, Gosei's personal second-in-command.

Smiles at Gia.

Later, after a feast at night to celebrate Emma's return to the kingdom, Gia sits with Emma on the roof of the eastern observatory tower, with Emma leaning her head against her shoulder.

"It's tomorrow," Emma says, "At dawn, the invasion of the Armada will begin."

"We'll be okay," Gia replies, repeating Emma's words.

"Of course, we will." She sighs, softly, and puts her hand in Gia's, linking their fingers together, "We've fought this battle before."

Gia furrows her brow, not quite understanding how they could have done that when they only met many moons ago. But, Emma says things like that a lot -- things that Gia can only attribute to her being a seer and knowing more than she can tell.

 

-

 

The battle comes, and Emma hadn't been wrong. She's a fast learner.

Emma doesn't ride her own dragon because there isn't one for her but rides on the back of Troy's dragon, blood red, firing steel arrows at the smaller ships that the Armada sails, ships that ride the sky like water. The Armada flagship is on the battlefield, too, half-visible through the clouds, but undisturbed. Their dragons can't get to it right now as the flagship keeps releasing smaller ships, somehow. An arrow from Emma easily takes down the smaller ships down one by one, raining debris on the battlefield, but everything is too much of a chaotic mess for it to matter. There is debris, blood, and bodies everywhere.

For this battle, because she's prepared, Gia has sharpened her sword and put on her clawed gauntlet. The knuckles are lined with spikes, sharp and dangerous to the touch, and it makes busting open the heads of Xborgs much easier. She can only process what's right in front of her because there's so much magic buzzing in the air from all kinds of magic users -- sorcerers, knights, monks. She's breathing the air of legends and becoming one herself.

An Xborg knocks Gia back with its club, causing her sword to fall out of her hand. She scrambles to her feet and uses her gauntlet to block another swing aimed at her head then twists her wrist and yanks the club out of the Xborg's hands. A scuffle ensues, punches traded and blocked, until Gia gets the upper hand by feinting left when she's actually going right. She grasps the Xborg's head, and she digs her fingers in, ripping into the metal, then tears the Xborg's head apart with her bare hands.

She gets just a moment to breathe as she picks up her sword and adjusts the visor on her helmet. Gia looks up and sees Troy's dragon fly too close to a cluster of ships. One clips his dragon's wing, and he struggles to keep himself on the saddle.

Then, Emma does something that, later, Gia won't be able to explain -- not that Emma really explains it herself, anyway. She leaps off of Troy's saddle, landing on the same Armada ship that had clipped Troy's dragon, holding on for dear life. Glass separates the Xborg rider from the sky, but Emma bashes at the glass with the tip of one of her arrows, shattering it, then throwing the rider out.

It's all down from there.

"Emma!" Gia screams, but it's not as if Emma can hear her as she falls from the sky. The ship falls with her, too, faster, and spirals off, crashing into the ground in a blazing fury. Gia desperately looks for Troy or any of the other dragon riders, but they're occupied. Another Xborg had gotten inspired by Emma and leaped out of its ship to wrestle with Troy on his dragon. Tommy, Jason, Kevin, and Preston are all fending off their own number of Armada ships.

Breathing heavily, Gia takes off in a sprint, dropping her sword and ripping her gauntlet off. "Emma!" At this rate, Emma will crash into the ground, and then-- Gia doesn't want to think about that.

As she rapidly approaches where Emma will horribly land, she sees Sky slam his shield over an Xborg's head, and it collapses to the ground.

Gia gets an idea.

"Sky!" she yells, "Shield! Up, now!"

He doesn't even ask why but brings his shield up and braces his boots.

Gia runs, feels the weight of Sky faltering when her weight pushes off of his shield, and leaps, tackling Emma out of the air.

There's a sickening _crack_ when she lands on the ground, a sharp pain jolting through her left arm, and her ears ring, but what matters is that Emma is alive.

Panting, Gia opens her eyes and sighs, seeing Emma underneath her, safe and sound. Emma gives her a look and shakes her head, amused.

"I had it handled," she says, "I was slowing my fall with my magic."

"Well, I'm sorry my first instinct is to protect you, Emma," Gia murmurs, lost in how her helmet had been lost in the fall and her hair is down, tickling Emma's cheeks.

She thinks about leaning down, but Emma chuckles to herself and says, "Not yet, Gia. We have a war to finish."

Chuckling, too, because they will finish this war, Gia gets to her feet and helps Emma up.

Across the battlefield, she sees a horde of Xborgs get drowned out by a geyser of water that erupts from the ground and vines that rise from the ground to wrap around the legs of another horde of Xborgs to hurl them into the distance. Noah and Jake, hard at work together.

The dragon riders are edging in on the Armada flagship, and Orion has joined Troy with King Gosei's own dragon, its silver scales gleaming in the sunlight.

"I had a plan," Emma comments, "I wasn't going to hit the ground. Just letting you know."

"I know," Gia replies, "You said you were slowing your fall."

"I was slowing it for something."

Gia raises her eyebrows. "What?"

Emma doesn't answer for a moment, gazing at the battlefield, then says, "Now."

Gia doesn't have time to ask what that means when Emma, smiling, pulls her by her chainmail into a bruising kiss. She inhales, Emma's magic bleeding into hers, the blessings of the heavens rushing through her blood, and exhales, her magic seeping into Emma, the birth of a new spring and life from earth. Emma runs her hands through Gia's hair, their foreheads touching as Gia pulls her closer with an arm around her waist. When they break apart, Gia pants, her mind clearing of the haze of battle. "Oh."

Laughing, Emma shakes her head. She seems to do that a lot around Gia. "That wasn't the something."

"Um, what was the something, then?"

Emma wriggles out of Gia's grasp and smirks. "You may want to step back."

Gia does so, curiously, and easily blocks an Xborg that had been charging toward them then throws it into one of its comrades.

A gust of wind rushes through the air, picking up in speed. It soon turns into more than just a gust, and Gia senses that this is part of Emma's real magic, just like the earth opening up had been hers.

Fire flickers from Emma's fingertips, running up her arms, then consumes her, but she doesn't scream out in agony, and that's the only thing that stops Gia from rushing forward to try and save her. Magic, not death. When the fire has spread all over her body, Gia sees the shape.

A phoenix.

There's a flash of light and heat, and the shape of the phoenix blazes forward, cutting through a mass of Xborgs, leaving ashes as remains and the soldiers on their side untouched.

Gia is breathless.

Magic is tiresome, but after seeing that display from Emma, she feels a rush of energy and falls into step behind Emma, back to back, fending off Xborgs with her sword and gauntlet, opening up the earth in spots to swallow individual Xborgs, as Emma lets loose arrow after arrow, lining the tips with fire to set the battlefield aflame.

 

-

 

The Xborgs close in and come at her from all directions. Gia braces herself for the fight of her life because it may as well be, and her day has hardly started. She's tired, weary from hours of defending Harwood from the Xborgs, of evacuating citizens and pushing her body beyond what she ever thought it could go to. And, still, the Armada launches their last invasion. She ducks under a club flying toward her head and launches into an uppercut, her gloved fist smashing into the Xborg's chin and busting its head open. The Xborg falls, its head wide open, wires exposed and sparking brightly.

Gia brings her elbow crashing into another Xborg's head, splitting it open from the brutal blow, and whirls around just in time to use the fangs of her Tiger Claw to block a club that would have split her own head open. The Xborg forces its weight behind the standoff. Gia stumbles and falls. Sees her life flash before her eyes but keeps them open. She isn't going to flinch away from death.

Death doesn't come.

A bright, pink energy blast smokes the Xborg's head, and it collapses. The horde surrounding her act as one, turning their heads to see what -- or who -- had ambushed them. Gia knows immediately that it's Emma, and she uses the distraction an opportunity and scrambles to her feet. Leaping onto the back of an Xborg, she finds grip underneath its chin and rips its head clean off.

Emma joins her in the fray, back to back, always like this.

"Thanks," Gia says, kicking an Xborg in the chest, "I never got to say that last time." She doesn't know why she uses those words, specifically, but they feel right.

"Didn't you?" Emma shrugs, "I could've sworn you did." She pauses then turns to Gia.

They stare at each other, something tickling at the back of their minds.

"Not now." Gia shakes her head, hastily, leaping over an Xborg's swinging club.

Landing in a crouch, she slams her Tiger Claw into the ground, cracks rapidly growing from where she had dug into the dirt. The earth trembles and shakes, and some Xborgs fall in while others are knocked down and dead from the force.

Gia turns just in time to see Emma fire off a charged blast that takes the shape of a blazing phoenix, burning Xborgs to ashes. Something about it stirs her heart, her thoughts nagged by a strong, strange feeling of deja vu. But, that's obvious. They've been Rangers together for so long now -- she's seen Emma pull off that same exact move countless times before.

But, it is deja vu because this is the last battle, fought through the ages, between good and evil, where good always prevails, and Gia doesn't know it but she has and always will fight it by Emma's side.

**Author's Note:**

> title from Heroes - Zayde Wolf
> 
> i know i tagged this as reincarnation but it's kinda weird because it's... not exactly? but like. it kinda is. idk time is not linear and is a construct, so like. you know.
> 
> anyway, they obviously win the battle against the armada as per super megaforce's canon ending, but i felt like putting the actual end of the battle would've gotten distracting.


End file.
